Chapter three

In the next few weeks Dudley managed to avoid spending too much time with his new neighbors, but there was no getting out of tonight, " you're going and that's final" his father had shouted at him earlier, so at 5pm, armed with a bowl of salad his mother had thrust into his hands, he grudgingly made his way next door for the barbeque, as he entered the Wilkins house, he was struck with a feeling of emptiness, the house was very minimalist, very plain, no personality was the only way he could describe it, he was alarmed to see photo frames on the walls but not one had a picture in it, he made a mental note to ask about this later, and then carried on into the back garden.

The afternoon wasn't as horrible as it could have been Dudley thought, the food was delicious, and the Wilkins were ok, their personalities certainly didn't reflect upon the house that they lived in, when Dudley had finished his fourth plate of food, the subject changed to Dudley school, it had been a week since Dudley had started his new school, and he fitted in quite easily, he had new friends, and was part of a new bullying gang. " Have you made some new little friends" Monica asked him gently, Dudley cringed I wonder if she knows I'm not 5 years old he thought, " course he has roared his father with delight, even had friends over to tea , our Dudley's always been a popular lad", just then something brown and bushy flew past Dudley's head, ARGH he screamed jumping to his feet, ,That's just Granger our cat chuckled Wendell, we have two Hermione should be around here somewhere as well, Dudley saw the look of disgust on his mothers face, she hated animals. Walking disease she called them, so Dudley couldn't help but suppress a grin, as Granger jumped on her lap and start purring.

Dudley had taken to his new school like a fish to water, and was back terrorizing smaller children in no time, in fact on his first day at school a letter had been sent home warning his parents of his bullying behavior, Vernon had simply laughed it off, well boys will be boys he reasoned. One day on the way home from school, Dudley saw a crowd gathered he went over and saw his mates beating on a kid from school, " hey big D, shouted one of them " you coming to play?" they laughed, Dudley ran over with a grin on his face, he looked down at the child on the floor, he was small and scruffy, with blood on his face, he raised his fist ready to strike , when he noticed something at the side of the boy, a smashed pair of glasses, suddenly the image of Harry flashed into his mind, and for a moment he saw Harry lying there on the floor, all the blood drained from Dudley's face and before he knew what he was doing he yelled " STOP leave him alone", the boys turned to look at him, " What's going on Dudley" asked one of the boys," you aint gone soft on us have you" another taunted, Dudley stepped forward and stood between the boy on the ground and his new friends, he put up his fists, " if you want him you'll have to come through me" he yelled, his heart was racing, " you're not as cool as we thought "one of the boys said, and then they turned their backs on him and walked away, Dudley breathed a sigh of relief.



Dudley didn't know why he had done it, and these thoughts kept him awake that night, he knew it wasn't Harry , and yet it was the thought of Harry that made him stand up to his friends, he didn't understand what was going on, " maybe I am going soft " he thought aloud, he went downstairs to get a glass of water, on his way back he opened the cupboard under the stairs, he didn't know why he did it, but he did, he looked inside" it's so small he said aloud Harry used to sleep in here" he had forgotten that, he suddenly felt something he had never felt before, guilt, guilt toward his cousin that he never took the time to get to know, and maybe that was the reason that when he returned upstairs it was into Harry's room he went and not into his own.